Book Review: Passed and Present

Today I have the opportunity to review and share with you Allison Gilbert’s newest book Passed and Present – Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive.As a teenager,Allison lost her mother to breast cancer. Over the years and working with others who have lost family members, Allison discovered keeping memories alive was part of a healthy mourning process.

Allison strives to keep the memories of those passed alive. Isn’t that what we do, too? The ideas and suggestions presented throughout the book struck me by their similarity to what we do as family historians and genealogists. We uncover our ancestors’ stories and share them with our families. We preserve their stories for future generations.

Passed and Present shares ideas for sharing family history and honoring a loved one’s memory in 5 sections. Each section has ideas or “Forget Me Nots” for remembering and sharing our family members. If you are more creative, you will enjoy Re-purpose with a Purpose. For the techie among us, Use Technology is a great section. Not Just the Holidays has one celebrating the small events, too, The Monthly Guide keeps you intentional with your ideas throughout the year, and Places to Go introduces the idea of commemorative travel. (This was a new concept for me.) These latter two sections deal more with remembering a more recent loss.

Make a mosaic piece from a chipped or broken piece of the family’s china.

Participate in Throw Back Thursdays on social media – You will find many family historians already doing this!

At family reunions, devotea table to family photographs. Encourage family members to bring photographs of older family members and generations to share. Especially encourage them to bring unidentified photographs. A Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner is great to have on hand to scan photos on the spot.

Use documents as decorations. These make unique conversation starters. These often trigger members and stories in family members.

Get inked (as in a tattoo). Just so you know, I am NOT doing this one. 🙂 But, if you like tattoos, go for it. It would certainly be a conversation starter.

Are you looking for creative ways to share your family history? Are you looking for ways to honor a recently passed loved one? Do you want to trigger memories in others about the family history? You will find many creative and out of the box ideas in Gilbert’s book.

Find Allison on Social Media!

I was provided with a free copy of Passed and Present. My opinions are my own.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission if you decide to purchase a product/service. This does not cost you extra. Be assured I only recommend products/services that I use and think you would like too.

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About Lisa

Welcome! I'm Lisa. I believe researching your genealogy does not have to be overwhelming. All you need is a solid plan, a genealogy toolbox and the knowledge to use those tools. Read More…

What Others Are Saying

Wonderful Detailed Reports

“After both my parents died, I thought my links to my family history were lost forever. I turned to a genealogy website to try to track down information about my heritage, and found evidence that I qualified to be a Daughter of the American Revolution. Knowing that the official paperwork would require documentation of my ancestors, I turned to Lisa Lisson (no relation) for assistance. She helped track down the links between my Patriot ancestor and me, and helped me to submit my documents to become a Daughter of the American Revolution. Lisa also sent me wonderful detail-filled reports on different members of my family. I have built quite a collection of reprints of family history books based on the sources she found. Lisa’s reports and my book collection will be a resource for my young nephews when they get older and begin asking about where they came from. I can share stories of Puritans and farmers and witchcraft and Irish butchers and Indian raids and pioneers!”

Kathleen L.

2016-09-05T15:10:44+00:00

Kathleen L.

“After both my parents died, I thought my links to my family history were lost forever. I turned to a genealogy website to try to track down information about my heritage, and found evidence that I qualified to be a Daughter of the American Revolution. Knowing that the official paperwork would require documentation of my ancestors, I turned to Lisa Lisson (no relation) for assistance. She helped track down the links between my Patriot ancestor and me, and helped me to submit my documents to become a Daughter of the American Revolution. Lisa also sent me wonderful detail-filled reports on different members of my family. I have built quite a collection of reprints of family history books based on the sources she found. Lisa’s reports and my book collection will be a resource for my young nephews when they get older and begin asking about where they came from. I can share stories of Puritans and farmers and witchcraft and Irish butchers and Indian raids and pioneers!”

http://lisalisson.com/testimonials/wonderful-detailed-reports/

A Partner In Research

I have been a family history researcher for over 30 years ever since my father left me his notes on his family. Since then I have worked with a number of other researchers who have helped me find good sources as I am a stickler for documentary proof of facts.
I consider myself very fortunate to have come in contact with Lisa Lisson. She is diligent and clever about finding those small bits of data that connect people in obscure past records. Beyond that, Lisa is a joy to work with, adaptable, insightful and flexible. She takes a suggestion and works it into a plan of action adapted to my schedule and budget. Above all she is honest about what is possible and prudent in terms of cost and results. I have come to consider her a partner in my work.

Jim S.

2016-09-05T15:17:32+00:00

Jim S.

I have been a family history researcher for over 30 years ever since my father left me his notes on his family. Since then I have worked with a number of other researchers who have helped me find good sources as I am a stickler for documentary proof of facts. I consider myself very fortunate to have come in contact with Lisa Lisson. She is diligent and clever about finding those small bits of data that connect people in obscure past records. Beyond that, Lisa is a joy to work with, adaptable, insightful and flexible. She takes a suggestion and works it into a plan of action adapted to my schedule and budget. Above all she is honest about what is possible and prudent in terms of cost and results. I have come to consider her a partner in my work.

http://lisalisson.com/testimonials/a-partner-in-research/

Thank You!

Thank you for the great ideas and the incentive to get what photos we have identified. I know I have photos from that my grandmother saved that are not marked in any way and no one seems to know who they are. She didn’t share them during her lifetime, but they were found after she passed away.

Michelle T.

2016-09-05T15:25:58+00:00

Michelle T.

Thank you for the great ideas and the incentive to get what photos we have identified. I know I have photos from that my grandmother saved that are not marked in any way and no one seems to know who they are. She didn’t share them during her lifetime, but they were found after she passed away.

http://lisalisson.com/testimonials/thank-you/

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